


Predator and Prey

by misura



Category: Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Genre: F/F, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 09:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10568748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Serpentine allows Hunter a glimpse of what she is.





	

The last of a group of very foolish and desperate men dies well after his throat has lost the capacity to produce so much as a whimper, and this is when Serpentine shifts her attention to Hunter, who has found for herself a position sufficiently removed to keep the blood and other fluids off of her clothes, but close enough to step in, should stepping in be required.

(Serpentine accepts that this is part of Hunter's job, that one cannot hire a bodyguard as capable as Hunter and expect them to listen when one tells them that a situation is under control.)

"I thought that you said you were in a hurry." Hunter's voice is as expressionless as her face.

"I did." Serpentine allows one of her women to bring her a clean cloak. "I was. I am. Thus, a quick death." She smiles at Hunter, watching for any sign of weakness, any reaction.

Below, as Above, one is either predator or prey. A predator may amuse itself with a prey for a while, but the pleasure would be fleeting, passing. Serpentine has long since outgrown the taste for such affairs, quite aside from the fact that they are beneath her.

"We'll need to make up for lost time," Hunter says. "Somehow."

Serpentine lets the cloak settle around her. "An early start tomorrow? I have no objection."

"Fine, then." Hunter's gaze flickers over the remains of what used to be men. "Need I remind you that you hired me to deal with any trouble?"

"If we run into any trouble, I will, of course, be happy to leave it to you to deal with." Serpentine smiles again. She has paid Hunter for her body's strength and the sharp quickness of her mind; what remains unbought, therefore, must be considered fair game.

Hunter nods once, curtly. Five of the more fortunate men have fallen to her, none of them managing to so much as draw blood. Likely, she might have handled the rest of them as well, had Serpentine simply stood back and restricted herself to watching.

Instead, she has chosen to exert herself just a little. Just enough to give Hunter a glimpse of her true nature, her true strength. To cast a lure and bait the trap.

To let Hunter know that, if she is interested, they might one day dance together and discover whether or not they are capable of doing so without destroying one another.


End file.
